Strike While the Cookie is Hot . . . Works for Me Wednesday

In Julia Usher's new book, Ultimate Cookies, she uses a special technique when she needs perfectly even cookies for 3D cookie construction...

...I decided to give it a try on some cookies to be adorned with an edible image.

Here's the skinny...cookies expand when you bake them. Cookies are good at that...expanding in the oven, expanding my waistline. So, when they come out of the oven, they aren't *exactly* the same shape as when they went in.

I wanted to cut my edible images, using my cookie cutter as a guide and thought it would be cool if they were exactly the same size.So, as soon as the cookies come out of the oven, use the cutter to press down on the warm cookies.

Push away the excess.

Voila! Perfecto cookies.

{Those scraps....they're cookie french fries. Totally worth doing this just for that bonus.}

Now, would I do this for EVERY cookie? No. This technique leaves cookie edges a little rough, but for certain applications, like cookie construction, or when you *really* need an exact shape, it works!